The Kit to Thwart Writers Block

"The Kit to Thwart Writers Block was created after being asked to find something I hate, change it and make it better, and then advertise it. Because I hate getting writers block, I researched the many ways to solve it, and created a packaged kit. I advertised it by silkscreening depressing doodles on napkins that look like they could have been drawn by someone in the throes of writers block. Folded on the other side of the napkin is the logo of the kit. Napkins were dispersed at coffee shops, and other locations where one might go to try and avoid writers block."



A fun project. I wish she was really selling them. :) See more of the kit here.

Blogging from Powell's

While certainly not a momentous occasion for most people, let alone those who are reading this, I'm quite happy to be on Burnside in Portland, Oregon at Powell's Bookstore. I have a perfect, street-level window seat, ideal for watching the steady stream of people walking past. And I get to blog a bit. Perfect.

I spent the first half hour or so wandering the different rooms: the Gold Room, the Rose Room, the Blue Room, the Green Room. An entire city block, 68,000 square feet, three stories tall (at places), filled with people looking and learning.

Despite being the largest new & used bookstore in the world (over a million books at this location) it still feels personal. I feel happily curious as I walk through the aisles of books. It's a fantastic environment. It has the feel Barnes & Noble is going for, but can't quite achieve because they're Barnes & Noble.

Today I may be in the market to purchase my first book of poetry. My sister in-law suggests David Kirby. I need to set out to find it because we're headed to dinner at the Marrakesh for dinner - fantastic Moroccan food, five courses, eating everything with your hands. It's places like these that make me want to move back to the Northwest.

Online journals vs. blogs

"I've never really found the time to blog, so to sepak. For me blogging isn't about sitting down on a regular basis and dreaming up something to say. It's more about indignation, frustration, pride and beliefs." - Bob Lutz, General Motors

The above quote came from The Corporate Blogging Book by Debbie Weil, a book I'm reading it as part of an assignment for work. So far, I like it much more than the book I had to read last quarter, Testing Advertising Methods by John Caples. That one made me want to shoot myself in the face. But I digress.

I like what Mr. Lutz (great last name) had to say about blogging, and I believe to a certain extent it defines what makes a good blog. Are you reciting the events of the day or week? Or are you writing about things you have a passion about? Sure, online journals are fine and have their place and serve as a way for people to keep up-to-date on what you're up to.  But I think a distinction could be made between online journals and blogs, with blogs being outlets for "indignation, frustration, pride and beliefs".

Am I overanalyzing this? What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments.

Seriously, so blessed!

If you haven't seen it yet, Seriously, So Blessed! is a brilliant parody site, written by an unknown author, from the point of view of a young married woman living in Utah, Tiffany/Amber/Megan/Nicole (take your pick) who is married to JJWT (Jordan/Jason/Wes/Taylor) and life is, like, so good.

JJWT is going to law/dental/business/medical school and TAMN has her degree in hair dressing/teaching 2nd grade. The blog is about their perfect life being so busy doing all sorts of (self) righteous, Utah things.

Their marriage couldn't be happier. In fact, nothing goes wrong in her life. And if you want a perfect life, start with the perfect man. Here are her tips for you ladies out there who are looking to meet your own JJWT:

• Avoid wearing sweats, BUT, if you're gonna wear sweats, MAKE SURE there is something sassy written on your bottom. 

• TEXT IN CHURCH. This will make you look even cuter and way less boring...if you can do this with tonz of gum, EVEN CUTER!
  

• Do NOT get a short haircut and/or make your hair one color (BOAR-RING!). Long and multi-colored is your best bet (but, don't bet, it's practically porn).
• WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT GO TO MORE SCHOOL, unless you want people to start calling you Yawnette. Think about it! Serious! How often do guys whistle and yell "Nice degree!" or shake there heads and say "What adorable knowledge"? EXACTLY.

Some other choice quotes:

In reference to being grateful for the Pioneers on the 24th of July: "If it weren't for them, we wouldn't even HAVE a Gateway!"

And..."It’s so fun to just go up to my family’s cabin and look at the things that make up our beautiful world and feel so greatful. Love just looking at nature at night while I sit in the hot tub with a 44 ouncer of Diet Coke (bad I know, I’m off it now), and my cute pink ipod blaring, and just BEING with nature, soaking it up til I get pruney."

Brilliant. Anyway, great site. Check it out, and start from the beginning.

How does Steve Jobs get his strength?

A hilarious description, courtesy of Engadget.

"Steve Jobs, presumably speaking from a hyperbaric chamber where he's being nourished with an infusion of liquified developers-souls before his next public appearance, had a few interesting tidbits about the AppStore for the Wall Street Journal this morning."

Moleskine mania

 

Oh, the drama. First, I freak out because I can't get the specific notebook I want. Then my friend/distant relative Erin brings one up from Provo for me. Then I get the one I ordered online (and was too impatient to wait for) so I have two. THEN the one Erin brought up began falling apart, the cover ever so sadly separating from the spine, so I wrote Moleskine and ask/beg for a new one.

Being in Italy (Milan, darling) our correspondence was a bit delayed and with the language barrier a little choppy. However, they very kindly said that, since they're handmade, sometimes these things happen and they'd be happy to send me a replacement if I'd provide my address, which I did.

Long story short, they ended up sending me two replacement notebooks, one with the cover written in Italian and one written in German, in addition to the original one I'd ordered online. While all this was happening, I found some good glue and was able to (mostly) reattach the cover of the original notebook which I'm still using.

I wrote Moleskine, told them they sent me an extra and offered to ship it back to them. They wrote back and told me not to worry about it. 

So now I have four total (three unused) softcover, ruled, pocket-sized Moleskine notebooks when just two months ago there was only one to be found in the entire state of Utah. Crazy how things turn out, huh?

An announcement and an apology

Yeah. Sorry. I'm alive. Just sorta been neglecting my digital duties of late. Despite the fact that my posts here have dwindled and I'm down to about one post per week on LivSimpl, for some inexplicable reason I've decided to launch a new project called Write In My Journal.

The idea of Write In My Journal is this: I approach people who look interesting - like they have a story to tell - and ask them if they, knowing they’ll most likely never see me again, will write in my journal.
They’re free to write whatever they want. I may give them a prompt to start but ultimately it’s up to them.

There are so many people out there with such diverse backgrounds and perspectives and it’s absolutely fascinating to me. Have you ever looked at a person and thought, “I wonder what their story is? How did they get to where they are? What are their dreams?” I do. All the time. (Is that weird?) This is my chance to get to know some of them, even if it’s just a glimpse, and share their stories that would otherwise go untold.

So I carry around my trusty Moleskine notebook (which is falling apart - more on that later) and ask people to write in it, right along side all my own scribbles, lists and thoughts.

Please take a moment to check it out, add it to your RSS feeds and leave a comment or two. Oh yeah, and please tell your friends.

It arrived. Twice.

I now have TWO softcover, ruled, pocket-sized Moleskine notebooks! My friend Erin delivered one she brought up from the BYU Bookstore in Provo on Sunday (thanks again!), and the one I ordered of Amazon finally showed up at work.

Lesson learned: if I'm going to order a notebook online, make sure I have plenty of space left in my previous notebook and order it early.

The horribly ironic thing is that I haven't even done so much as an inaugural scribble yet. It's weird. Getting a new Molie is a little intimidating. I'm not sure why, but I feel like I need to be very careful not to screw it up. So I'm excited to get them (0bviously), but once I do I feel like I have to have something worthy to write in them before I can do so.

I'm pretty sure none of this is healthy.

I once heard of a farmer who bought a brand new, beautiful truck. The first thing he did after he signed the papers was walk out and key the side of it. The salesman was obviously shocked and then the farmer explained how now he wouldn't worry about it getting dinged up while working on the farm. He could go out and use it for what it was intended and wouldn't think twice about it getting bumped, scratched, dented or dinged.

I need to key my Molie.

Maybe I furiously scribble on the first page until the pen starts leaking. Maybe I write some profound quote. Maybe I tear the first page out all together, sort of an overly dramatic Dead Poets Society gesture.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments.

The Notebook (not the movie)

Here's a history of the ordering process for the notebook I ordered a week ago:

I'm in Utah and ordered the notebook from some podunk bookstore in South Carolina via Amazon.

It shipped from Oregon.

It sat in Union City, California for four days.

It then flew from California (over Utah) to Denver, Colorado where it has been "processed".

I charted the information/physical trail and it looks something like this:

It appears to me that they're trying to avoid directly sending me the product I ordered.

Does ANYONE in Utah have this Moleskine?? - UPDATED X3

It's driving me nuts! I've called every bookstore I can think of and NOBODY has these notebooks in. I ordered one from an Amazon retailer on Sunday and, from what I can tell from the tracking info, it's been sitting in California since Tuesday.

I'm looking for the pocket sized, ruled, soft cover Moleskine notebook.

Do you have one? Do you know where I can get my hands on one ASAP? Drop me a line and if I can in fact get one, I'll buy you a snow cone.

UPDATE: Barnes & Noble said they had one at their Gateway location:


Except when I called, they don't really have it in stock. *sigh* And I went and got my hopes up.

UPDATE 2: BYU Bookstore has copies in. My good friend Laura is going to mail me one on Monday...unless someone else is going down sooner.

UPDATE 3: My good friend, faithful reader and distant relative, Erin, is coming to Salt Lake tonight from Provo and will be bringing me the long awaited notebook.
Photo courtesy of here.

Punctuation DOES make a difference

Courtesy of Duchess.

Writer's strike may be over

According to this article on USA Today as well as some other rumblings around the Internet, it looks like the writer's strike could be over as soon as Monday. Unfortunately, many shows won't be on for another four to six weeks. Lame. I'm having Chuck and 30 Rock withdrawals. Not so much The Office for some reason.

Oh yeah. And that could mean we see an Arrested Development movie coming out within the next year or two. NICE.

Meet the real "Delilah"

I really like the song "Hey There Delilah" by Plain White Ts - great writing. Who knew it was inspired by an actual girl named Delilah? Apparently the lead singer met Delilah (Columbia graduate and Olympic hopeful - she has a lot going for her) and was smitten. Despite her having boyfriend, he promised to write the best song of his career - the one that was going to make him famous - and dedicate it to her. Sure enough, it's been nominated for Song of the Year and a Grammy.

Here's the source of his inspiration.

Oh. And she agreed to be his date to the Grammys. Glad to see she's got a little class.

Poor, broken Moleskine

My poor, dilapidated pocket sized Moleskine notebook really broke recently when the cover parted ways with the spine. So sad. I can't say I didn't see it coming after the repairs I've already made with reattaching the bookmark and duct taping the little expandable pocket in the back.

Fortunately, a work friend of mine had some book-binding glue (fancy Rubber Cement, from what I understand) so I've tried my best to paste my little notebook back together so I can continue to use it (him? her? "it" just sounds so impersonal) until the last few remaining pages are scribbled on with my endless to-do lists and random thoughts.

I know some who've heard me expound on the virtues of these little notebooks will say, "Obviously the notebooks aren't any good because they're falling apart." So I feel it necessary to mention that my first entry in this little companion of mine was September 10, 2003 - over four years ago. Granted, I didn't use it much in the beginning, but I still carried it with me, it faithfully tagging along and dutifully earning the wear and tear it now brandishes so nobly.

Less than 20 pages to go. Will I be forced to replace it prematurely? Or will it endure? I'm confident in my little collector of thoughts and bits of memories. And when the time comes to retire it and inaugurate a new notebook - a stark, perfect and perfectly intimidating Moleskine - it will be with a hint of sadness that I'll empty the back pocket and place it on a shelf.

Sure, I'll say I'll revisit its pages often, but I know it won't be for years, if ever. And there it will remain. A small volume of the forgotten details of life.

This year's resolutions

I'm guessing that based on the above photo you assumed my resolutions included getting chiseled abs, rippling biceps and perky pectorals.

Well, you'd be wrong. I had this statue of myself commissioned last year.

Here are some of my resolutions for 2008. The rest weren't fit for publishing.

• Stop offering kids candy from my car.
• Write more posts this year than last (at least 248).
• Continue with my other site, LivSimpl, at a rate of about three posts per week.
• Fill a large Moleskine journal.
• Stop trying to hit cats I see in the road (my wife's idea, not mine).
• Get 100% home teaching (and report it by the third Sunday).
• Really put some effort into getting my modeling career off the ground.
• Work out at least three times per week (maintaining this physique ain't easy).
• Go to bed and get up early.
• Go to the temple at least 12 times.
• Learn how to drive a car on two wheels. Preferably not my own.
• Be consistently reading a book.
• Vote in some kind of election. Maybe the presidential one. I'm still not sure.
• Stop urinating in the hot tub (when other people are in it).

Now you know what my next year will, and won't, consist of. Any other suggestions? How about your resolutions? Leave word in the comments.

P.S. I also resolve to use the word "jaunty" more in casual conversation.

The Napkin Notebook

All great ideas are originally scribbled down on a napkin, right? Might as well carry some around with you just in case inspiration hits.

Their website is pretty good too. You can see what others have scribbled down on virtual napkins or jot your own thoughts and pictures down as well.

It's a fun concept. Kinda pointless, and not really related to this blog, but a good concept just the same.

A quote on advertising from Winnie the Pooh

"When you...think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it."

Very wise Pooh, very wise.






Photo via here.

My idea for a musical

When inspiration hits, it hits hard.

I want to write a musical about Nigerian e-mail scammers.

OPTION 1: A young scammer who never had a chance sets off to the big city with the dream of making it in the daunting world of spamming. John Williams will write a stirring soundtrack and the whole thing will be choreographed by the guy who did CATS.

OPTION 2: An equal rights spin - a young girl knows she can scam the stupid Westerners just as well as the men, so she dresses up like a guy to work hard and prove her point. This would have a gritty, urban feel. We could even tie in an AIDS subplot somewhere in there.

OPTION 3: A rural Nigerian village with only one computer. The villagers have to ride a bicycle to generate electricity and it's about how they band together to make it work. (Think Remember the Titans meets The Gods Must Be Crazy - but on stage.) Possible plot twist: they only have dial-up.

OPTION 4: A young man is told by his Evil Uncle that his father died at the hands of the white man...but it was a lie. Driven by fire in his belly and vengeance in his heart, he works night and day (for free) in his uncle's spam shop. Of course, the kid finds out about the lie and gets ticked off because he's never been able to save enough for a dowry to marry the beautiful, rich businessman's daughter. (They have a lovely duet in act two. You'll cry. Seriously.) Revenge will be his.

During a dramatic fight scene in the third act the uncle dies from some related-but-unintentional act, like tripping over a ledge where he hangs on, dangling precariously above a pit of lions. The nephew reaches down but the uncle can't hold on because their hands are sweaty (because it's Nigeria and it's hot there) and Evil Uncle falls into the pit of lions. (I picture using live lions on stage. I think it would really add to the emotional impact of the scene.)

The happy ending - the nephew inherits the family business, earning the respect of the businessman who permits the marriage to take place. The closing scene shows them walking along with a stroller, so it's left open for a sequel.

I think I have four really solid ideas here. I'm picturing Don Cheadle as the lead. I don't know if he can sing or not, but I'm sure we can fake it if he can't.

The reason I mention all this, is I'd like you to tell me what you think such a musical should be named. My wife lamented that Spamalot has already been taken, as it would have been a perfect name.

Let me know what you think in the comments.


I'm also looking for funding. Shoot me an e-mail if you're interested in getting in on the ground floor of something big. Really big.

Announcing a new blog

It seems life continues to become increasingly complicated. Our attention is being vied for from more and more sources and it can become overwhelming.

About a month ago I started a new blog called LivSimpl. The goal is to provide daily tips on how to simplify life, eliminate distractions and enjoy the simple things that we might overlook in the rush of the daily grind.

I've already built up about 25 tips, so please take a second or two to check it out and subscribe via RSS. Or, if you prefer, you can subscribe to a daily e-mail tip.

Eventually I'd like to get to the point where I have enough readership to have contests, giveaways, etc. So if you know anyone who might be interested, please let them know about LivSimpl.com!

Hogwarts in the future

**SPOILER**
DON'T READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED BOOK SEVEN!

I'm watching clips of an interview JK Rowling gave where someone asked her who, 19 years down the road, the headmaster of Hogwarts is. She said it wouldn't be McGonagal because she's getting on in age so it would have to be someone new.

Personally, I think George Weasley would make a perfect headmaster. Just think about it. Jo, you've got my number. Call me.